Intact: what would it take for your body to be good enough?

Professor of Political Philosophy and Jesus College Fellow Professor Clare Chambers joined us on Friday 25th February 2022 to rethink what it means to be ‘natural’, ‘normal’, or ‘whole’, and to learn how we can let our bodies be good enough just as they are.

Clare argued that the pressure to change our bodies is constant – and damaging. Across gender and cultures, ages and occupations, she stated that we increasingly feel compelled to defy ageing, build our biceps, cure our disabilities, and conceal our quirks.

The author of the acclaimed Against Marriage, Clare specialises in feminism, bioethics, contemporary liberalism, and theories of social justice.

Intact, Clare’s latest book, is an original argument in defence of the value of the ‘unmodified’ body. In it she makes an illuminating analysis and critique of the power dynamics that structure society and bear down on our bodies, and offers ways to resist.

A video of the recording is available here.